Spirit Song
by olehoncho
Summary: Ibiki Morino is on a long overdue scouting mission to the old border with the Land of Sound. Mysterious forces are at work in the forest, talk of ghosts and spirits. What he finds is more surprising than the rumors painted.  Ibiki and Tayuya
1. Chapter 1

Ibiki measured the breaths of his traveling companion, a newly appointed special chuunin named Nobu. It was easy to predict speech patterns once you knew how a person controlled their diaphragm and breath. From the way Nobu was breathing, Ibiki knew it was time for a periodic, "why are we here?" speech.

"I'm just saying, this is just a little backwater village. There's been no activity from the old Sound Country for years. They didn't need to send the two of us on this mission." Nobu's complaining made for a bad traveling partner. In the back of his mind Ibiki made a note to come up with a lesson that would teach the youth to be silent while traveling.

"What are the two most important function of the Intelligence Division?" Ibiki stopped on a tree branch behind Nobu. Not wanting to hear the boy stammer through an answer, he continued himself. "Interrogation and investigation. And investigation is by far the easier and more widely used method. You should never commit yourself to any action without thorough research. And it is the fact that we have not done any scouting in this area for years that makes this an important mission."

Nobu quieted once again and they continued on to the village. Ibiki ran though a list of contact names in the small hamlet. Seven years ago the town was practically deserted after beasts from the forest forced the closing of the lumber mill. Five years later an ambitious group reopened the mill and has reported no problems.

Ibiki dusted off his shoes and made sure his head wrappings were secure before walking into the office of their contact. Ryoga was a silk distributor, not the finest quality silk but his small industry kept the town alive during the inactivity at the mill. At the height of the tensions with Orochimaru's Sound Village he had been a vital contact in these parts. Stepping out from his cubicle Ryoga was all smiles when he greeted them. He was a thin man who was proud of his moustache and fond of his wife. The only things he had to hide were gifts for her that he would place around the house or at places she would go on her daily errands.

"My friend, my friend. It is good that you have come." Ryoga said as he dry washed his hands. It was his habit, but for reason of clearing off any stray silk strands.

"It had been some time. Two years?" Ibiki remembered, but the question would stimulate the man's memory and make further questions easier.

"Yes, about that long." Ryoga paused and led them to a small visiting room he kept for business meetings.

"What is the trouble Ryoga?"

Settling into informant mode, Ryoga's tone of voice changed from friendly to serious very quickly. "No trouble, and that's what worries me. The eastern forest used to be home to dire bears. They were the reason the mill closed down all those years ago. And from what I gather they've all gone."

"Anyone scouted the forest?"

"Nothing more than a few hundred meters out from the edge of their logging. But they stick more to the northern hills and mountains. It's the lack of activity from the eastern forest that has the old timers worried."

Ibiki nodded his head to Nobu and made a handsign indicating east. The younger man would begin a simple scouting mission and report back in an hour. Ibiki excused himself and used that hour to ask more questions around the town. Sifting through conflicting reports and empty boasting, Ibiki got the general impression that most villagers thought the forest to be haunted.

Nobu was found outside of town an hour later looking a bit shaken up. A small cup of sake quieted his nerves. The lad was not physically injured, but he was somewhat scared. Placing his hands on Nobu's temples, Ibiki did a light scan of his short-term memory.

Grim faces that appear and disappear, tree limbs reaching out and grabbing him, a soft melody playing, a flash of red cloth in the low light of the trees.

Dropping Nobu off at Ryoga's, Ibiki went out into the forest. All the signs pointed to an auditory genjutsu. The trick that Nobu was too young to know was that most auditory genjutsu are designed around disrupting balance in the target. They don't work against those who are deaf in one ear. The sequence of hand seals were fairly simple, but it was not a technique anyone ever used. Within moments, Ibiki checked and found that his left ear had gone completely deaf. Reversing the technique was easy enough, but he would have an ear ache for a day afterward.

Following Nobu's trail was simple as most freshly raised chuunin still had no concept of staying invisible while moving. It did not take long for Ibiki to find what used to be a dire bear den, long deserted. By the look of it the den had been smashed open by some great weapon, larger than any human could wield.

"There is something strange about this forest." Moving further on Ibiki finally heard a light melody on the wind. Deciding to not immediately follow it, Ibiki circled around to another angle and approached from that direction. After a few minutes of sneaking from tree to tree Ibiki found a glen by a stream where the trees thinned. Hidden in the middle of this cedar forest was a grove of Sakura. And finally he saw her.

Sitting in the tree branches was a young woman, newly come into her adulthood. A very fine red silk kimono wrapped around her, her shoulders were exposed but she was not indecent. Tossing back her long red hair she played sequences of notes on her long silver flute, as though trying to decide which song to play.

Something about her face finally jogged Ibiki's memory, and he felt a light shudder from an unexpected wind chill.

"You've made it this far, come on out from behind those trees Konoha." Her voice was firm, expecting obedience. "If you're here about your friend, don't worry. He'll have bad nightmares tonight but won't remember them by morning."

Emerging from behind the tree, Ibiki kept his hands in his coat pockets. Speaking as he walked to the base of the tree, "At least now I know why villagers think this forest haunted. Perhaps it is. Everyone thought you killed years ago, Tayuya of the hidden sound."

Jumping down from the branches shook the tree and caused several blossoms to fall as well. She took a seat on a small pile of stones by the stream and looked as though she were sitting on a throne. Raising her flute to her mouth she blew a single note before lowering it again. "That was a lifetime ago." The sadness to her eyes revealed a sincerity that could not be faked.

As she played her song Ibiki leaned against the Sakura tree and listened. Overhead the clouds parted and bathed the grove in a warm light. "Why are you scaring others away?" He asked as she ended her song.

Holding the flute in her lap, she looked off in no specific direction, lost in her memories. "There are times I find it hard to believe I'm still alive. Times I feel like the ghost the town thinks I am." From the angle he was at, Ibiki saw the edge of scars that were unsuccessfully hidden by her clothes. Those scars match the description of the attack that was reported to have finished her. "Are you here to capture me? If you are I'd prefer that you get it over with."

Anger flashed across her eyes followed quickly by pain. Reaching up she grabbed at the back of her neck and gasped. Dropping her flute she pulled back her hair and scratched at the scarred skin where the curse seal had once sat in her flesh. The moment passed and she sat back tired from the experience.

Walking towards her, Ibiki picked her flute from off the ground and sat next to her. Taking off his forehead protector and headscarf he handed her the instrument he said, "Would you play another song for me?"

There was a curiosity in her eyes, a reaction to the unexpected. Placing the flute in her lap, she reached a hand out to touch his head. With a gentle hand she touched the scars, softly fingering the holes that had been drilled into the skull. With a sense of excitement she moved her other hand to touch the scars. Finally sitting back she pulled a scroll and pen from a hidden pocket. As she began scribbling notes, Ibiki recognized them to be musical notes.

As she finished, she raised the flute to her lips and began playing. The melody began sounding as though it had been a different song that had been torn apart. It was complex, but as it evolved the themes that were played apart at the start began to come together. The dissonance at the beginning was forgotten in the harmony at the end. The music had no name, but her emotions spoke as she played. Pain, loneliness, healing, forgiveness, and hope.

"I'm not the person I once was." She spoke with regret.

"You composed that song from the holes in my head?"

"What can I say? You have great scars."

"I won't report you."

"Thank you."

"I have two questions. First, what happened to the dire bears?"

"Oh those things?" She giggled, and covered her mouth. "I think my music scared them all away."

"Just your music?"

"Well I know a lot of songs." This time her smile had a dangerous twist to it. "And your second question…"

"May I come and listen to you play again?"

Lying back on the rocks she ran her fingers though the water of the stream. As she sat back up she flicked her wet fingers at his face. Laughing with a tease in her voice, "You know where to find me."

Taking off his glove, Ibiki ran his hand along his scarred scalp. It had not taken him long to see that his deformity would be an excellent object lesson, but in all the years since he had been given the wounds did he think anything beautiful would come of it. But sitting in a sakura grove, listening to music played by an old enemy; he finally realized that the key to understanding life was not found through analysis, but by living.

"I'm sorry about your friend again." She apologized. "I was acting on instinct. It's what's kept me alive."

"No apologies needed."

"As far as you coming back… this is not a word I've spoken for many years; but I hope you do."

They finally parted ways, and Ibiki felt as though those few short hours had been an entire lifetime. Turning back he saw that she was staring at him from the distance, before seeming to disappear into the sakura.


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you sure these reports are accurate?" Ibiki stared down the new Chuunin guard at the gatehouse. The least favorite part of his job was checking the logs for the entry station that he knew had already been checked by three other people; but today turned out to be one of those days that proved the necessity of his work. "I ask again. Are these accurate?"

"Yes sir, I was on shared duty with Takeshi Kida all morning. That is the complete list of everyone who came in through the West Gate. Why, is there something wrong?"

Closing the ledger, Ibiki handed it back to the man and shook his head. "No, nothing is out of the ordinary. Stop being so nervous when someone asks you about your work, it shows on your face." Tossing back the record, Ibiki walked back into the city before ducking into a tea house. Ordering a plain green tea, he drank it slowly to calm his nerves. Most of the physical signs of nervousness had disappeared, but Ibiki had no answer for why his heart was still beating so fast.

'She came in through the main gate, and they didn't realize who she was? Nobody thought to double check her identification?' Pausing for a moment, Ibiki realized he had drunk the entire kettle of tea. Waving his hand for another one, he returned to his thoughts. 'She made it into Konoha, giving her name and nobody recognized her. I didn't think anyone was that good… Tayuya.'

After finishing the second kettle, Ibiki left his payment on the table before tightening his head wraps and heading back outside. The remainder of the afternoon seemed like a wild goose chase, following the sounds he heard on the wind, following it wherever it took him, the dead ends stopped being funny.

"Two years and I still can't get used to this new Konoha. Why couldn't they have rebuilt it the way it was?" Grumbling more to himself than anyone in particular, Ibiki gave up and walked back to his apartment. The street he lived on was in the more orderly part of town, the rest of Konoha has a natural and organic feel to the way the streets were lain out, Ibiki had chosen a home near the industrial quarters next to one of Konoha's military storage warehouses, though the stores were only half full even years after the last great war. Housing was cheap, and it was quiet out here, but it was not quiet that he found.

Unlocking the fence leading into the yard that ran along the side and back of his house, he heard that strange soft music again. There was too little chance of this being coincidence. Reaching the backyard he looked over his Koi pond, artificial waterfall, and the cave carved into the branches of the hedge which housed a small statue of a sleeping bear.

She was sitting on the roof of the house overlooking the garden, but Ibiki had decided not to meet her gaze or acknowledge her presence yet. It was hard to pick up her breathing at the distance and height she was at, but short nasal exhalations meant that she was growing impatient.

"Very well then Tayuya. What brings you to my home today?"

Jumping down next to the apple tree, she plucked two ripe apples from the branches and tossed one at Ibiki. Rather than catch it, he raised his arm and let the fruit land against his jacket, turning to face her in a natural motion caused the fruit to roll along his arm and down into his pocket where his hand was waiting to grab it. A light chuckle and a grin broke her stern face.

"That's a nice trick." Taking a bite of her apple, she weighed the slightly sour flavor for a moment before proceeding to devour the entire thing to the core in a few moments.

"Hungry?" Ibiki asked.

"Starved, now that you mention it. Where are you taking me to eat?"

"Wait, I'm taking you whe-" Grabbing his arm before he could finish his protest, she led him out from the garden and back out into the street.

"I would have gone by a restaurant before dropping by your place, but you don't live anywhere a good grill or bar, and after going through your pantry I'm certainly not about to let you try your hand at cooking."

"Hold on a minute here." He stopped and pulled her to a stop with him. "What are you doing in Konoha?"

"When you asked if you could visit me all those months ago, you didn't figure that the offer went both ways?" There was something about her eyes Ibiki could not place, despite what other interrogators would claim, it was hard to tell intentions by the eyes – they were a real mystery. For a moment Ibiki though he saw something, but it turned out her eyes had fallen on the teriyaki grill to his right. Finally relenting, Ibiki treated her to dinner.

The afternoon sun was still in the sky, a good hour or two before dusk would set on when they finished. It was not a meal by his normal schedule, but this day was proving to be anything but normal. For being a rather petite young woman, she had a healthy appetite, though he figured she did not often get cooked meals like that out in her forest.

Insisting on a walk, Ibiki took her to a lake outside of town where he liked to go for privacy. It was as good a place as any for a talk. Her quiet demeanor confused him, based on her old personality profile, but from his previous experience it matched the tone she had set then. Yet something still seemed odd, as though a part of him was unsure what to think about her.

"What are you doing?" She had stripped off her outer robe and was down to her bikini underwear as she stepped into the water.

"It's been a long, hot day. I haven't bathed in the three days I traveled here, I must smell awful." Of all the sensory refinement Ibiki had developed, smell was one that he never gained command of, there was always an Inuzuka on the interrogation squad to do that. Gathering up her robe, Ibiki folded it before laying it down on the ground. Walking alongside the water, Ibiki found a place to sit down in the shade of a willow tree as she swam and bathed herself. Curiosity caused him to look once or twice, her body was young and supple, but she had many scars across her abdomen and back. Propriety made him look off in the distance for the majority of the time, it was not right to stare. Then a shout broke his concentration.

"Aagh, damn it! Not now!" With a fit, Tayuya began to flail around as she sunk in the water. In a flash Ibiki threw off his overcoat and jumped in the water after her. There was a red glow was spreading across her body, which could be nothing else but the curse seal. Grabbing her and bringing her back to shore, he was relieved to hear her coughing up water, even if she was still convulsing in pain.

A dozen seals crossed his mind, but he knew none of them would be effective against a deteriorating Cursed Seal of Heaven. Not knowing what to do, he sat beside her and took her in his arms and began to hum lowly and calmly. For a moment her muscles continued to spasm and pulse, but eventually the spread of the seal stopped and began to recede. Her hair turned from the light pink back to its normal red shade and her breathing stabilized. She was cold, but from her own sweat rather than the lake water. Lifting her in his arms he went over to her robe and wrapped her in it before building a small fire.

After a few minutes she sat up next to the fire, still shivering. Putting his coat around her, he sat next to her with his arm over her shoulder.

"You could have taken me to the hospital."

"I'll be honest, I don't much like hospitals. The weapons that gave me most of these scars were surgical tools and I can't bare the thought of…" Ibiki stopped himself, not really knowing what to say next.

Looking up at him, her hands grasped his face again. Again those eyes looked at him, and again he saw that same unsure quality to them. It was not something he was used to seeing in the eyes he saw.

"That was a lovely tune you were humming earlier. Where did you learn it?"

"It was a lullaby my mother used to sing to me."

"You have new scars on your face since the last time I saw you." Her hands took in every line in his face, not shying away from the scar tissue nor treating it any differently.

He surprised himself when he leaned forward to kiss her, and she surprised him even more when she returned the kiss. It was not like the fantasies where love is like a dream, this moment made everything seem more real, all the pieces seemed to fit, even if none of them should have. His sense of duty felt that something was wrong, but a part of himself said it would be wrong to not continue; it was a part he had been trained to ignore for so many years, his humanity.

Lying next to the fire, he continued their kiss as he supported her head in his right hand. His left hand found hers as she led his hand down to her hip. Breaking his kiss with her, he trailed his mouth down her neck down to the scars around her navel as he gave her skin the same caress she has given him. A sudden tiredness overcame him; it was the fatigue of relief combined with an unspoken fear that prevented him from continuing. Sitting up, she rested his head in her lap and began to hum a quiet tune, his mother's lullaby…

It was evening when he awoke, alone under the willow tree by the lake. The stars were out, but partly hidden by clouds which kept the half moon in shadow. Looking around Ibiki quickly assessed the situation, she was gone and she had taken his coat. Quickly searching his pockets, he found all of his possessions were still there except for his security clearance card.

Running back to Konoha, Ibiki found that Anbu had the perimeter under security lockdown. In the confusion he managed to get inside and find Nobu and ask him what was going on.

"Someone broke into the sealed archives, the old treasure vault designed by the Third Hokage."

"Any information on who did it or what they stole?"

"There were three giant bruisers, who broke past the inner seals. All we know is that the chamber that was robbed had stuff from the old Uchiha Clan, handed down through the family going back to the Rikudo Sennin."

Ikibi tightened the muscles around his mouth to keep his chin from quivering. His eyes burned, and something happened that he had not experienced in years.

"Boss, are you crying?" Nobu asked as Ibiki turned away. Turning away from his subordinate, Ibiki walked to his apartment and prepared for the trip up North. His expression did not betray his feelings, something inside him that had only just come to life had died again this night.


	3. Chapter 3

The season was over. Dried sakura crunched under his boots as he walked through the forest that had once seemed so alive. A slight shift in the breeze warned him of something in the air. Raising his hand, Ibiki caught a dried flower that had just fallen off a branch. Not looking at it, he closed his fist and heard the same sound his boots made as he walked.

A nearby tree has a freshly made mark on the underside of a branch indicating a Konoha strike team had passed recently. The mark would be gone within a few days, a special gel had been applied to the surface of the tree promoting the rapid regrowth of bark. It did not take him long to catch up with the pursuit ANBU team.

The glade had recently been walled off by a combination chakra barrier/doton technique, the ground felt too cold, even for the approaching season. Two of the masked nin were unconscious, one of whom was only wearing fragments of a mask which were partly lodged into his face. The medic was working in a frenzy to keep him stable, from her particular style and the slight bulge in her right sleeve he knew it to be Tsunade's assistant Shizune, nobody else wore a poison dart launcher quite like the one she did.

"Status?"

Taking off a mask decorated with five chevrons was an Aubrame Ibiki was familiar with. Shizune did not pause her healing, but Ibiki knew from her patient's breathing that he was past the worst of his injuries.

"Captain Ibiki." Aburame were hard to read. In most cases people with little emotions still showed signs, but the entire Clan was comprised of people who defied human description. "We followed the thief this far, most likely she's in one of Orochimaru's old hideouts around 2 kilometers to the west. This was as far as we got. We were prepared for her genjutsu, but not the three Oni she summoned."

For a moment Ibiki considered taking the Aburame with him, the man appeared relatively uninjured. 'No, this is something I have to do alone.' He told himself, though part of him still doubted.

"Stay with your team. Give me one of your tracer bugs, if I'm not back in an hour come after me and drain the chakra out of every living thing you find until you put her down."

"Understood sir." The tracer bug flew of a hole in the man's ear and onto Ibiki's pants before crawling into his back pocket.

Orochimaru's bases in the Land of Sound were monuments to simplicity, modeled after rabbit warrens in layout and design, though many rabbit warrens fall prey to snakes. The entrance was hidden by the overgrowth, which made it doubly hard to find as it was already hidden under a false door made to look like roots. A rear entrance, most likely the main entrance had been destroyed when the base was abandoned.

Reaching for the latch to unlock the interlacing wooden beams made to look like roots; his fingers felt something in the recess. With a slight pang he discovered it was a sakura in bloom, out of season from all of the fallen flowers. Letting it fall to the ground, he pulled the switch and watched as the roots moved as though alive. They could have been alive; word was that Orochimaru had unlocked secrets of the First Hokage's Wood Release. That mattered little to Ibiki though. His pathway clear, he walked down into the fort before the roots closed shut behind him.

At the bottom of the stairs was a rotating floor he recognized from other hidden forts. Undisturbed dust and dirt lay on the ground to show any unwelcome footsteps, the floor was on a rotating wheel in the ground allowing for a clean floor to show itself when the base was secure. Seals in the wall were even cleverer; they were part of a sensor network that would detect any attempts to walk on the walls or ceiling with chakra. Holding back his chakra, Ibiki walked the halls until he found passages lit by torches.

A faint echo in the air, like a woman crying, or playing an instrument; with Tayuya, it was difficult to tell those two apart. As he went in deeper he found three bodies lying on the floor, large bodies. Were these the Oni the other team had encountered? A room to the side of the hallway was completely trashed, racks of instruments lay scattered and broken, and ash lay where an extinguished candle had met with music sheets, though the fire had not spread.

Finally reaching the end of the long hallway, he found her. The room was large and circular and significantly different from any room in the complex. Walls looked like roots surrounding a great pool of water with a small island in the center. It was nearly fifty meters to the center from the doorway, and as Ibiki reached the door he found clothes, torn and scattered, on the ground.

Stepping inside took him a moment to adjust his eyes from the torch light of the hall to the natural light of the room. The ceiling was all roots, but they were somehow transferring light down from the trees above them. Whether artificially done or through jutsu, it was clear the hand of a genius was at work in this.

The light made clear new details, Tayuya kneeling in the center of the island, naked as the day she was born, but looking more demon than human. Horns grew from her head, her red hair changed to a pale pink. Her flesh a deep red, like dried blood. Something was wrong though. The lines of the cursed seal of heaven were still visible on her flesh, burning slowly, causing smoke to rise from her skin for a moment before growing cold. The process looked painful, accelerating and decelerating seemingly at random.

"Please, come closer." Her voice was hoarse and weak, but her tone held notes of desperation and authority all at once.

Deciding not to say anything Ibiki approached her, removing his cloak, he draped it over her shoulders as he reached her side. Kneeling next to her he reached his hand out to brush hair away from her face to get a better look at her. She did not flinch away from the touch, her attention was directed inward; she was in pain. On the ground before her lay several sealed scrolls, an ink set with fresh pages, and the artifact stolen from the Konoha archives.

"Rikudo Sennin's Bamboo Flute."

"It wasn't his." She fingered the instrument, a meter long and ten centimeters in diameter, age-faded green seemed to change color in the light. There was something magical about its simplicity. "It belonged to his wife. Did you know that she was the first kunoichi? Orochimaru found several scrolls by her which led to him building the Sound Village in the first place."

"I did know that. She's not well known because apparently the Sennin thought too well of her to let her techniques be used for violence. She was a healer, is this why you stole her writings? Hoping to find some answer?"

"I must seem pretty pathetic." Wincing in pain and grabbing her neck, her breathing grew weak and erratic. As though soaking up darkness itself her hand began to turn black. Lifting the cloak to see, Ibiki saw black skin spread from the curse seal, which was now glowing dark red.

Picking up a scroll which Tayuya had been working to unseal, he noticed the high level sealing placed upon it. It was one of the archive's scrolls, one of her scrolls. Tayuya wouldn't be able to open it without the keyword, the sealing was rather complex and would only reveal the true nature of the sealing after the first layer had been opened.

"I hated Konoha." She was shaking, delirious, she had felt hot to the touch under the cloak. "At first it was because of your role in the Shinobi wars that killed my family, then because Orochimaru turned me into a weapon against your way of life, now because it's where that bastard came from in the first place."

"We have a lot to answer for, I know." Finally undoing the seal the old scroll wound between the staves showing page after page of notes and musical compositions. Finally he reached a page entitled 'song of healing' but found it blank of any notes. The page did not respond to the touch, had no special seals he could see. It was just empty.

Dropping the scroll to the ground, his hands dropped to his sides where he opened a pouch on his leg. A quick death, ending the pain would be a mercy. For a moment memory crossed his vision, all the people he had given that mercy too. At what point had he lost count? At what point did it no longer matter to him as just part of a job?

Crying over the empty page in front of her Tayuya nearly fell prostrate on the ground, but her pride kept her up. Rage swelled and in a fury she raised her hands to her head and attempted to rip her horns from her skull, but she was too weak. Her left hand cut on one of the horns and fell lifeless in front of her, blood catching on the page of the scroll. The thin trail of blood soaked into the silk sheet and disappeared in an instant.

"Tayuya, look." Ibiki could not believe his eyes; the page must have had a hidden blood seal. Notes appeared where none had been and a song appeared on the page. Weakly, but with a last push of hope, she lifted the flute to her lips and paused for a moment to gasp. "This song is…" As she played the tune, realization dawned on Ibiki. He had heard this song before. Removing the scarf from his scarred head he felt the holes that had been drilled into his skull, but it was not the pain of torture he remembered, but her fingers.

The room was closed to the elements, but as she played a slight breeze seemed to blow from nowhere in particular. More like wind blew around them and they were in the eye of a storm. Her breathing was labored, but as she repeated the simple tune he literally could see the chakra in her body glow. The dark aura which had surrounded her seemed to fade and her skin lightened from near black, to purple, and finally to her natural pinkish hue. As she finished, letting the flute drop to her side she fell backwards, Ibiki rushed to catch her. Lifting the flap of cloak by her neck he saw the cursed seal of heaven on her neck, the black tattoo burned weakly like the last cinders of a great fire before vanishing in a glow of pure white chakra.

Letting her head rest on the ground, Ibiki picked up the flute and scrolls in a travel bag before lifting her unconscious body and walking out of the room in quiet reverence. By the time he reached the exit he noted her breathing return to normal, she was awake.

"There's going to be hell to pay when I bring you back to Konoha. You're lucky you didn't kill anyone." She didn't say a word; she just shifted position to wrap her hands around his neck. Her body was so small in his arms, he felt her heartbeat against his chest; small but strong.

"You'll forgive the pun, but I think I'm ready to face the music. I've been running for so long, it'll be good to have a place to rest, even if it is prison."

"Perhaps." Ibiki thought of her in prison, and had no idea how cooperative she would really be.

"Are you going to visit me?"

"Perhaps."

"A conjugal visit?"

"Perha-" Ibiki felt like he had just been caught by a left hook.

"Oh I'm going to have fun with you." Tightening her arms around his neck for a moment she pulled back slightly and kissed him on the cheek twice, each time straining her neck to reach his mouth. Obliging her on the third time, their lips met and he stopped walking for a moment to savor the moment. Sun shining through the trees, calm wind blowing, birds humming. It wasn't a perfect moment, life was never perfect; but it was as good as he had ever hoped for, and that was good enough.


End file.
